And now, my Phil Hellmuth imitation:
I'm a tournament poker player. Sure, a lot of people I respect in the poker blogger world say that tourneys are -EV, but for the last month, I've doubled my bankroll just playing low-stakes (5.50 and 10+1) SNGs. I play good, solid tournament strategy, and I've learned to take advantage of people who are trying to protect their stacks, or are afraid of bubbling. In the last 30 days, I've cashed in 90% of my tourneys. So why am I way down for the same period? Fucking cash games.
I spent some time two nights ago in an micro-limit (.25 / .50) NLHE game . . . and lost my entire buy-in to guys who called huge raises on the flop and caught miracle hands on fifth street. I paid off a lot of guys with the second-best hand, too. And I mean big second best hands, like TT vs JJ with undercards rainbow flops, or AK with the board A-K-5 losing to pocket 5's.
So fuck the cash games, at least at the micro-limits, where the players just aren't smart enough to fold.
I went back and played a quick SNG this morning. Actually, I played one hand in a SNG this morning: I had AJs in the BB with the blinds at 50/100, one minute before they increased. The table was full of REALLY lousy players, who were in with any two suited cards, any ace, any paint . . . so I figured I just had to wait for a good hand and I'd get paid off.
Wrong.
There are three limpers and the SB folds, so I check the lousy AJ, which I hate and never want to play anyway, especially out of position. When I check, I wonder if I should have raised it, but I doubt my raise would have chased anyone out, anyway, so when the flop comes 3-3-9 with two spades, I'm happy to make a bet at half the pot. It's folded to the cut-off, who calls. The turn is a Jack, and I'm positive this jerk is playing a little face card (I've seen him showdown nothing but crap the so far, not a single pocket pair) so I push, since I'm pretty much pot-committed at this point, and I don't want to play a short-stack against people who won't respect raises. Fucker calls and turns over 8-3c.
It's hilarious to look at my stats, which show that I saw the flop one time, played one hand, and lost one time.
Hey, I love bad players, because they usually pay me off . . . but right now the variance is killing me, and I think I have to take a couple of days off, so I get my patience and respect for the game (even if it's full of lousy players) back.
I'm a tournament poker player. Sure, a lot of people I respect in the poker blogger world say that tourneys are -EV, but for the last month, I've doubled my bankroll just playing low-stakes (5.50 and 10+1) SNGs. I play good, solid tournament strategy, and I've learned to take advantage of people who are trying to protect their stacks, or are afraid of bubbling. In the last 30 days, I've cashed in 90% of my tourneys. So why am I way down for the same period? Fucking cash games.
I spent some time two nights ago in an micro-limit (.25 / .50) NLHE game . . . and lost my entire buy-in to guys who called huge raises on the flop and caught miracle hands on fifth street. I paid off a lot of guys with the second-best hand, too. And I mean big second best hands, like TT vs JJ with undercards rainbow flops, or AK with the board A-K-5 losing to pocket 5's.
So fuck the cash games, at least at the micro-limits, where the players just aren't smart enough to fold.
I went back and played a quick SNG this morning. Actually, I played one hand in a SNG this morning: I had AJs in the BB with the blinds at 50/100, one minute before they increased. The table was full of REALLY lousy players, who were in with any two suited cards, any ace, any paint . . . so I figured I just had to wait for a good hand and I'd get paid off.
Wrong.
There are three limpers and the SB folds, so I check the lousy AJ, which I hate and never want to play anyway, especially out of position. When I check, I wonder if I should have raised it, but I doubt my raise would have chased anyone out, anyway, so when the flop comes 3-3-9 with two spades, I'm happy to make a bet at half the pot. It's folded to the cut-off, who calls. The turn is a Jack, and I'm positive this jerk is playing a little face card (I've seen him showdown nothing but crap the so far, not a single pocket pair) so I push, since I'm pretty much pot-committed at this point, and I don't want to play a short-stack against people who won't respect raises. Fucker calls and turns over 8-3c.
It's hilarious to look at my stats, which show that I saw the flop one time, played one hand, and lost one time.
Hey, I love bad players, because they usually pay me off . . . but right now the variance is killing me, and I think I have to take a couple of days off, so I get my patience and respect for the game (even if it's full of lousy players) back.
VIEW 13 of 13 COMMENTS
I just started playing $0.50-$1 ring games and there's a noticeable difference. For a start, it's possible to find tables where less than 50% of the 10 players there are seeing the flop!
<petergriffin>sweet</petergriffin>
[Edited on Jun 18, 2005 5:14PM]